Case Study 1: Toothfish – An MSC-Certified Fishery - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 256

11.5 Current status of certification

Ten conditions were set for the fishery to maintain continuing certification as
follows:
1.

surveillance: annual surveillance visits, including determining that catch limits
for subarea 48.3 continue to be set to achieve long-term management objectives
that are at least as precautionary as those that are currently used, and a review
of research plans;

2. confirmation of stock identity: existing and new studies of genetics and tag-

ging to be undertaken in order to demonstrate that the toothfish stock at South
Georgia is sufficiently discrete that locally implemented management mea-
sures alone should be sufficient to ensure the sustainability of this stock;

3. fishery surveillance and IUU monitoring to continue at current levels;

4. development of a research plan to obtain reliable information on fishery-related

impacts on rajid populations;

5. codification of management procedures;

6. request an independent review of CCAMLR toothfish management proce-

dures;

7. develop a method for taking account of IUU catch in TAC allocation;

8. estimate the numbers of hooks discarded in offal and take action to reduce the

problem;

9. initiate research into the ecosystem relationships of toothfish (predators and

prey);

10. initiate research into locating areas of complex benthic habitat, particularly

biogenic features, within the areas exploited by fishers.

At the time of writing conditions 5-8 had been closed by the certification
body as acceptably completed, and work on the other conditions was progress-
ing satisfactorily (surveillance report no. 2, May 2006; posted 15 June 2006:
www.msc.org/assets/docs/South Georgia toothfish/SurvRep2.pdf).
One of the strengths of the MSC assessment process for this fishery was the wide
external review that all aspects of the fishery were subjected to - by the assessment
team, the peer review team and the objection panel. As soon as GSGSSI was aware
of the concerns of the certifiers on a particular topic, it was able to initiate corrective
action. For instance, the review of IUU fishing activity demonstrated that since 2000
there had been little or no activity around South Georgia. Nevertheless, surveillance
coverage was significantly increased during the assessment period, starting in 2001,
and has continued to increase each year since then.
Even before approaching certification, GSGSSI had become concerned about
rajid bycatch in the fishery and in 2000 established a detailed monitoring programme
which has now produced a series of important conservation results (Endicott et al .
2000, Endicott & Agnew 2002). In 2001, GSGSSI introduced its first measure
to limit ray bycatch in the fishery, requiring vessels to relocate to new fishing